As estruturas de governança e capacidades fundamentais para captura de valor no mercado de café gourmet no sul de Minas Gerais

Abstract

The growing consumption of better quality coffees in Brazil and in the world, as well as the search for greater profitability in the rural segment have been stimulating the differentiation of the commodity coffee. When seeking to differentiate a product, it is necessary to acquire the best resources and competences that bring competitive advantage. The rural producer must differentiate his product and, for that, it will be necessary to seek arrangements that enable the effectiveness of the differentiation through technical and financial aids, which will culminate in the recognition of the quality of the differentiated coffee in order to obtain adequate remuneration. In other words, it is necessary to seek partnerships with other organizations in order to acquire better resources and skills. In addition, it is necessary for producers to understand the best way to capture value in the marketing of these differentiated coffees. These are commonly known as specials and grouped into five categories: gourmet coffees (fine), organic, coffees of origin (estate coffee), fair trade and shaded. Gourmet coffee is the most important in the specialty coffee market, because it is a differentiated product, almost free of defects, which adds a superior price compared to other specialty coffees, and its production is outstanding in the southern region of Brazil of the State of Minas Gerais. That said, through three theoretical lines of strategy, namely: Resource-Based View (VBR), Transaction Cost Economics (ECT) and Strategic Positioning Analysis, we sought to understand the governance structures and fundamental capacities for capturing value in gourmet coffee markets, and its positioning. For this, through a qualitative and exploratory research, gourmet coffee producers in the south of Minas Gerais were interviewed. In addition to these, the subjects cited by coffee growers as production facilitators were interviewed, in this case, the following companies: broker, exporter, warehouse, beneficiary, roaster and trader. The data were analyzed using the content analysis technique using the NVivo® Version 1.2 (426) software. It was intended, therefore, to understand how the increase in the consumption of gourmet coffees is reorganizing the agro-industrial systems in the south of Minas Gerais, from the strategic point of view of the complementarity of the three theories, resulting in a guidance model for directing tactic that gourmet coffee producers can adopt to better capture value in product marketing. As research findings, it was found that for the production of gourmet coffee, the main resource is the producing region, and the competence is the attention, dedication and timing of the harvesting, drying and roasting processes.